Emails Show Solyndra Push Was Rahm Emanuel's Idea

It was no secret, when Emanuel was Obama's chief of staff, that "Rahm definitely wants to do this" Solyndra loan. ASSOCIATED PRESS View Enlarged Image

Scandal: The sunlight continues to expose the machinations behind the White House's support of failed solar panel manufacturer Solyndra with our tax dollars, including the false claim by former White House chief of staff.

In a batch of White House emails released in a report on Solyndra by the House Energy and Commerce Committee on Thursday, there's this gem: White House aide Aditya Kumar wrote to Jacob Levine of the Office of Energy and Climate Change on Aug. 19, 2009: "Feels like Rahm wants this too (barring any concerns) — POTUS (President Of The United States) Involvement (in pushing Solyndra) was Rahm's idea."

Of course, Emanuel, who helped bring the infamous "Chicago Way" of politics from the Windy City to the nation's capitol, has long denied being a mover and shaker in the Solyndra affair.

Despite being Obama's chief of staff during the administration's green energy initiative in 2009, when the Solyndra loan was finalized, Emanuel told Chicago radio station WLS 890AM at a news conference in September 2011 about a new wellness initiative that he didn't remember anything about the failed investment loan by the Department of Energy that in fact was being fast-tracked by the White House.

Vice President Joe Biden was scheduled to announce the closure of the Solyndra deal on Sept. 4, 2009, and several emails show pressure from the White House to approve the loan. President Obama also visited Solyndra to tout solar energy as a job-creating energy source of the future of which Solyndra was a key part.

In an editorial last October, we noted an email reference to Emanuel that hinted at his involvement in the push to highlight Solyndra in advance of a presidential visit designed to promote Obama's program to use stimulus dollars to promote green energy.

The Aug. 17, 2009, email released in one of the administration's famous Friday document dumps showed a White House staffer referring to Ron Klein, former chief of staff for Vice President Biden, saying to an Obama scheduler: "Ron said this morning that POTUS definitely wants to do this (or Rahm definitely wants to do this?)."

In an editorial last September, we noted an Aug. 31, 2009, email in which an assistant to Emanuel wrote to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) about the upcoming Biden announcement on Solyndra and asked whether "there is anything we can help speed along on the OMB side." The director of the OMB at the time was Jack Lew, now White House chief of staff.

"This deal is NOT ready for prime time," one OMB analyst had written in a March 10, 2009, email.

Another Aug. 31, 2009, message written by an OMB staffer and sent to Terrell P. McSweeny, Biden's domestic policy adviser, concluded: "We would prefer to have sufficient time to do our due diligence reviews."

But the White House and Emanuel were pushing the deal.

According to White House visitor logs, between March 12, 2009, and April 14, 2011, Solyndra officials made no fewer than 20 trips to the White House, including major Solyndra investor, Obama donor and Tulsa billionaire George Kaiser.

Yet Rahm Emanuel still insists he knew nothing about all this. If you believe that, then you believe Chick-fil-A is his favorite restaurant.

It was no secret, when Emanuel was Obama's chief of staff, that "Rahm definitely wants to do this" Solyndra loan. ASSOCIATED PRESS View Enlarged Image

Scandal: The sunlight continues to expose the machinations behind the White House's support of failed solar panel manufacturer Solyndra with our tax dollars, including the false claim by former White House chief of staff.

In a batch of White House emails released in a report on Solyndra by the House Energy and Commerce Committee on Thursday, there's this gem: White House aide Aditya Kumar wrote to Jacob Levine of the Office of Energy and Climate Change on Aug. 19, 2009: "Feels like Rahm wants this too (barring any concerns) — POTUS (President Of The United States) Involvement (in pushing Solyndra) was Rahm's idea."

Of course, Emanuel, who helped bring the infamous "Chicago Way" of politics from the Windy City to the nation's capitol, has long denied being a mover and shaker in the Solyndra affair.

Despite being Obama's chief of staff during the administration's green energy initiative in 2009, when the Solyndra loan was finalized, Emanuel told Chicago radio station WLS 890AM at a news conference in September 2011 about a new wellness initiative that he didn't remember anything about the failed investment loan by the Department of Energy that in fact was being fast-tracked by the White House.

Vice President Joe Biden was scheduled to announce the closure of the Solyndra deal on Sept. 4, 2009, and several emails show pressure from the White House to approve the loan. President Obama also visited Solyndra to tout solar energy as a job-creating energy source of the future of which Solyndra was a key part.

In an editorial last October, we noted an email reference to Emanuel that hinted at his involvement in the push to highlight Solyndra in advance of a presidential visit designed to promote Obama's program to use stimulus dollars to promote green energy.

The Aug. 17, 2009, email released in one of the administration's famous Friday document dumps showed a White House staffer referring to Ron Klein, former chief of staff for Vice President Biden, saying to an Obama scheduler: "Ron said this morning that POTUS definitely wants to do this (or Rahm definitely wants to do this?)."

In an editorial last September, we noted an Aug. 31, 2009, email in which an assistant to Emanuel wrote to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) about the upcoming Biden announcement on Solyndra and asked whether "there is anything we can help speed along on the OMB side." The director of the OMB at the time was Jack Lew, now White House chief of staff.

"This deal is NOT ready for prime time," one OMB analyst had written in a March 10, 2009, email.

Another Aug. 31, 2009, message written by an OMB staffer and sent to Terrell P. McSweeny, Biden's domestic policy adviser, concluded: "We would prefer to have sufficient time to do our due diligence reviews."

But the White House and Emanuel were pushing the deal.

According to White House visitor logs, between March 12, 2009, and April 14, 2011, Solyndra officials made no fewer than 20 trips to the White House, including major Solyndra investor, Obama donor and Tulsa billionaire George Kaiser.

Yet Rahm Emanuel still insists he knew nothing about all this. If you believe that, then you believe Chick-fil-A is his favorite restaurant.

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